


As Fair a Name

by Verecunda



Category: Julius Caesar - Shakespeare, SHAKESPEARE William - Works
Genre: Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 17:40:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19214317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verecunda/pseuds/Verecunda
Summary: He cannot recall a time that he has ever called Brutus "Marcus".





	As Fair a Name

**Author's Note:**

> Old commentfic from my LJ, just uploading it to AO3 now.

He cannot recall a time that he has ever called Brutus "Marcus". Brutus is Brutus, with all the ancient weight that the name bears. He gladly embraces it, and every duty and responsibility that it brings with it. Brutus is a man moulded entirely by his name; his every thought, every action is informed by his awareness of his ancestors and what they mean to Rome. Cassius cannot imagine calling him by anything else.

His own name does not hold the same weight in the imaginations of the Romans, but seldom does anyone call him "Caius". "Caius Cassius", certainly, but never simply "Caius". Addressing a man by his _praenomen_ is a mark of such acute intimacy, and there are few people in the world whom Cassius considers close enough to him to use it.

But for Brutus - as he does in so many aspects of his life - he makes an exception.

Never often, and it is even rarer now, but it does happen. Sometimes, when Cassius has worked himself into a fury and become deaf to all else, it is that "Caius" in Brutus' firm, quelling tone that forces Cassius out of it.

And there have been other times - quiet times, without anger - when that "Caius" has been murmured in his ear, or against his mouth, in something almost like supplication. Those times are the rarest of all.

And even when it seems that Brutus has been too blinded by his own name to see anything else, Cassius will hear that "Caius" spoken again, and it gives him hope that maybe Brutus has not forgotten him after all.


End file.
